Blacklock's Reporter

John A. Macdonald was a vagabondish fellow who never stayed in one place for long and occasionally had trouble paying the mortgage. Our founding prime minister had at least five homes in Ottawa. Few survive. One today is the High Commission of Brunei. Another was demolished to make way for an economical grey, mid-century apartment tower across the street from a vacant convenience store. READ MORE

Covid is a tale of failure by federal executives and political aides. They did not mean to cause death and suffering; these people are not monsters. They were merely reckless and incompetent in the manner of Titanic officers who kept a dance band and well-stocked liquor cabinet but no binoculars in the crow’s nest. The Public Health Agency of Canada was fully funded at $675 million a year and found money for climate change conferences but literally could not run a mask warehouse. It was their job to keep you safe. They failed. Displacement City is a story of failure. The City of Toronto budgeted $663 million a year for homeless and housing programs yet authors count 10,000 homeless people. The City has 75 years of experience in public housing and a six-figure CEO at the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, yet was reduced to arguing whether to install communal toilets at tent cities in municipal parks. READ MORE

Liberal MP Michael Ma (Markham-Unionville, Ont.) yesterday questioned whether accounts of slave camps in China were “hearsay.” The remarks prompted an outcry at the Commons industry committee: "It is something I have never experienced before, that a Canadian politician would be defending China’s human rights." READ MORE

The finance department's senior director of forecasting yesterday boasted Canadians were enjoying “real gains in income.” MPs on the Commons finance committee questioned Brian Torgunrud's claim by pointing to household debt levels, poverty rates and homelessness.: "I have a statistic here." READ MORE

Use of bitcoin to finance political campaigning would be outlawed under a cabinet bill introduced yesterday in the Commons. Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon said cabinet was unaware of any suspicious use of cryptocurrency in campaigns but was “trying to be as responsive as we can.” READ MORE

Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday said Canada met its NATO obligation to spend $60 billion or 2 percent of gross domestic product on military preparedness. No budget document substantiates the $60 billion figure: "It’s focus." READ MORE

The Canada Revenue Agency will no longer mail T1 tax returns to paper filers at a $1.8 million annual saving. Traditionalists will have to download and print their own forms: "The Agency sent educational letters to them." READ MORE